memeorandum: Maryland has no authority to execute its death-row inmates, attorney general says (John Wagner/Washington Post)

11:45 AM ET, December 31, 2014

Top Items:

When New York City Police Walk Off the Job — Many members of the New York Police Department are furious at Mayor Bill de Blasio and, by extension, the city that elected him. They have expressed this anger with a solidarity tantrum, repeatedly turning their backs to show their collective contempt.

Murray Weiss / DNAinfo New York:

City Hall Pushed Pols to Attack PBA as Mayor Coaxed Unions To Meet: Sources — NEW YORK CITY — While Mayor Bill de Blasio was personally coaxing the city's police union presidents to meet with him, his top aides were on the phones with lawmakers urging them to blast PBA President Patrick Lynch …

Discussion: Capital New York, Daily Mail, The Gateway Pundit and New York Post

Amy Davidson / New Yorker:
No One Here Should Be Turning His Back — Whom are police …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Wall Street Journal, Gothamist, New York Times and Alternet

Michael Scherer / TIME:

Steve Scalise Falls Prey to Scandal Politics He Once Practiced — Steve Scalise, the third-ranking Republican in the House, knows well how the Washington game of target and destroy is played. — Long before he admitted on Monday to accidentally speaking before a 2002 conference organized …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Washington Post, The New Orleans Advocate, Taylor Marsh, US News, Slate, The Huffington Post, EgbertoWillies.com and Raw Story

New York Times:

Republicans Try to Fix Damage Scalise's 2002 Speech Could Do in 2016 — WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders, poised for a celebratory takeover of Congress next week, instead found themselves scrambling Tuesday to defuse a racially charged controversy over one lawmaker's speech a decade ago to a white supremacist group.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, The New Republic, The Week, NOLA River, New Yorker, ImmigrationProf Blog, The Hill, Hot Air and Washington Post

Washington Post:
House Republicans move to contain fallout from Scalise, Grimm controversies

Discussion: US News, New York Times, New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Hugh Hewitt Show, NOLA River, RedState, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal and Roll Call

Ron Boehmer / Governor O'Malley's Blog:

Governor O'Malley Issues Statement on the Four Remaining Inmates Sentenced to Death in Maryland — ANNAPOLIS, MD - Governor O'Malley today issued the following statement on the sentences of the four remaining inmates sentenced to death in Maryland:

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Weekly Standard

John Wagner / Washington Post:

Maryland has no authority to execute its death-row inmates, attorney general says — Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said Thursday that the state does not have the legal authority to execute the four men who remain on death row following the legislature's decision last year to abolish capital punishment.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, WTOP, The Huffington Post and Bloomberg Politics

Kevin Cirilli / The Hill:

Pope Francis splits with GOP — Pope Francis is increasingly driving a wedge between conservatives and the Catholic Church. — The magnetic pope has sparked new enthusiasm around the world for the church and has flexed his political muscles internationally, most recently by helping …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

J.K. Trotter / Gawker:

Who Is Lena Dunham's Alleged Rapist? — Since its publication this fall, Lena Dunham's bestselling essay collection, Not That Kind of Girl, has inspired her fans and offered a different kind of inspiration to her foes. The right-wing press, in particular, has taken Dunham's discursive set …

Discussion: Hit & Run, The Daily Caller, Hot Air and JustOneMinute

Gina Bacchiocchi / RADAR:

Michelle Duggar's Lesbian Secret: Bigoted Reality Star Has A Gay Sister! … Jim Bob, Michelle, and the infamously large Duggar brood are staunchly against gay rights. In November, the couple deleted photos of same-sex couples kissing from their official Facebook page, and later that month …

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, Raw Story and Daily Mail

Burgess Everett / Politico:

President Obama abandons Michael Boggs nomination — President Barack Obama will not renominate controversial Georgia judicial nominee Michael Boggs to the federal bench in 2015, according to the state's two Republican senators. — Boggs drew widespread opposition from Senate Democrats …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and BuzzFeed

RT:

‘CIA fingerprints’ all over Kiev massacre - Oliver Stone — The armed coup in Kiev is painfully similar to CIA operations to oust unwanted foreign leaders in Iran, Chile and Venezuela, said US filmmaker Oliver Stone after interviewing Ukraine's ousted president for a documentary.

Discussion: Bloomberg View and Mashable

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

RadiumOne Founder Chahal Makes Bid to Buy Company That Ousted Him — Gurbaksh Chahal, the ousted CEO of RadiumOne, has made an offer via to buy the advertising marketing platform back. — Chahal, as anyone who followed the saga at the San Francisco company he founded recalls …

Discussion: Gigaom and Business Insider

Peter Sullivan / The Hill:

Obama approval at highest in over a year — President Obama's approval rating is at its highest in over a year, according to new Gallup polling. — The latest three-day polling average, from Dec. 27-29, puts Obama's approval at 48 percent, the highest it has been since August 2013.